This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/398,882, filed Jul. 26, 2002, and U.S. Provisional Application 60/456,746 filed Mar. 21, 2003, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
The present invention relates to dispensing a specific amount of material from one container into another container.
There are many different types of material dispensers available to the market offering differing levels of automation, each of which tends to be designated to dispensing a specific material, often defined by the substance composition of the material being dispensed and the viscosity of the material. A machine dispensing material low in viscosity would likely be different in both methodology and apparatus from that of a machine dispensing a paste material.
Materials are typically stored and transported by using a number of different containers. Among the most common are steel drums (55 and 30 gallon capacities), HDPE buckets (5, 3-½ and 2 gallon capacities), HDPE jugs (1 gallon capacity), cardboard (known in the ink industry as “Sonoco” cartridges) or plastic tubes, and metal cans (of 1 and 2 quart capacities).
Dispensing equipment is seen in virtually every industry requiring a finished product that is created from a formulation. Formulations are often seen in the paint, ink, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, foodservice and chemicals industries. For instance, in the ink industry, a printer may need custom color ink created to satisfy the requirements of a particular project. The finished product is created using a formulation, or a recipe of materials. In the paint industry a formulation is required to create a custom color of paint.